BILL NUMBER: AB 2481	CHAPTERED  09/29/00

	CHAPTER   875
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   SEPTEMBER 29, 2000
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   SEPTEMBER 28, 2000
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 28, 2000
	PASSED THE SENATE   AUGUST 24, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   AUGUST 18, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   JUNE 26, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   APRIL 25, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   APRIL 4, 2000

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Romero

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2000

   An act to amend Sections 1777.5, 1777.7, and 3099 of the Labor
Code, relating to employment, and making an appropriation therefor.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2481, Romero.  Apprentice employment:  apprenticeship
standards.
   (1) Existing law requires contractors on public works who employ
journeymen or apprentices to contribute to a fund to administer
certain apprenticeship programs, as specified.  Existing law also
requires the California Apprenticeship Council to make prescribed
grants to apprenticeship programs at the end of each fiscal year.
   This bill would revise and recast the provisions prescribing
grants to apprenticeship programs.  The bill would also provide that
contributions be deposited into the Apprenticeship Training
Contribution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, which the bill
would create.  By providing for the deposit of moneys into a
continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation.

   (2) Under existing law, a contractor or subcontractor that employs
apprentices on a public work in a contract for 50 or more working
days, must comply with various conditions relating to that
employment, including payment of the prevailing wage and employing
apprentices only in the craft or trade for which they are registered.
  Existing law provides penalties for knowing violations of these
provisions.  If the Administrator of Apprenticeship determines that
there has been a knowing violation, the administrator is required to
deny the violator the right to bid on any public works contract for
specified periods of time.
   This bill would delete the reference to days thereby making those
provisions applicable regardless of the length of the contract.
   This bill would instead impose the above penalties on a contractor
or subcontractor that is determined by the Chief of the Division of
Apprenticeship Standards to have knowingly committed a serious
violation of the provisions governing employment of apprentices on
public works.  These penalties may be reduced if the chief determines
that they would be disproportionate to the severity of the
violation.  The bill would also provide that the chief has discretion
as to whether to suspend a violator's right to bid on or be awarded
or perform work as a subcontractor on any public works contracts.
The bill would also make related, technical, and clarifying changes.

   (3) Existing law provides for apprenticeship programs within the
Division of Apprenticeship Standards in the Department of Industrial
Relations.  Existing law also requires the division, on or before
January 1, 2001, to establish and validate minimum standards for the
competency and training of electricians, as defined, through a system
of testing and certification; establish fees necessary to implement
those requirements; and establish and adopt regulations for
enforcement.
   This bill instead would require those standards, fees, and
regulations to be established on or before July 1, 2001.  The bill
would also make a clarifying change.
   Appropriation:  yes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 1777.5 of the Labor Code is amended to read:
   1777.5.  (a) Nothing in this chapter shall prevent the employment
of properly registered apprentices upon public works.
   (b) Every apprentice employed upon public works shall be paid the
prevailing rate of per diem wages for apprentices in the trade to
which he or she is registered and shall be employed only at the work
of the craft or trade to which he or she is registered.
   (c) Only apprentices, as defined in Section 3077, who are in
training under apprenticeship standards that have been approved by
the Chief of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards and who are
parties to written apprentice agreements under Chapter 4 (commencing
with Section 3070) of Division 3 are eligible to be employed at the
apprentice wage rate on public works.  The employment and training of
each apprentice shall be in accordance with either (1) the
apprenticeship standards and apprentice agreements under which he or
she is training or (2) the rules and regulations of the California
Apprenticeship Council.
   (d) When the contractor to whom the contract is awarded by the
state or any political subdivision, in performing any of the work
under the contract, employs workers in any apprenticeable craft or
trade, the contractor shall employ apprentices in at least the ratio
set forth in this section and may apply to any apprenticeship program
in the craft or trade that can provide apprentices to the site of
the public work for a certificate approving the contractor under the
apprenticeship standards for the employment and training of
apprentices in the area or industry affected.  However, the decision
of the apprenticeship program to approve or deny a certificate shall
be subject to review by the Administrator of Apprenticeship.  The
apprenticeship program or programs, upon approving the contractor,
shall arrange for the dispatch of apprentices to the contractor.  A
contractor covered by an apprenticeship program's standards shall not
be required to submit any additional application in order to include
additional public works contracts under that program.
"Apprenticeable craft or trade," as used in this section, means a
craft or trade determined as an apprenticeable occupation in
accordance with rules and regulations prescribed by the California
Apprenticeship Council.  As used in this section, "contractor"
includes any subcontractor under a contractor who performs any public
works not excluded by subdivision (o).
   (e) Prior to commencing work on a contract for public works, every
contractor shall submit contract award information to an applicable
apprenticeship program that can supply apprentices to the site of the
public work.  The information submitted shall include an estimate of
journeyman hours to be performed under the contract, the number of
apprentices proposed to be employed, and the approximate dates the
apprentices would be employed.  A copy of this information shall also
be submitted to the awarding body if requested by the awarding body.
  Within 60 days after concluding work on the contract, each
contractor and subcontractor shall submit to the awarding body, if
requested, and to the apprenticeship program a verified statement of
the journeyman and apprentice hours performed on the contract.  The
information under this subdivision shall be public.  The
apprenticeship programs shall retain this information for 12 months.

   (f) The apprenticeship program that can supply apprentices to the
area of the site of the public work shall ensure equal employment and
affirmative action in apprenticeship for women and minorities.
   (g) The ratio of work performed by apprentices to journeymen
employed in a particular craft or trade on the public work may be no
higher than the ratio stipulated in the apprenticeship standards
under which the apprenticeship program operates where the contractor
agrees to be bound by those standards, but, except as otherwise
provided in this section, in no case shall the ratio be less than one
hour of apprentice work for every five hours of journeyman work.
   (h) This ratio of apprentice work to journeyman work shall apply
during any day or portion of a day when any journeyman is employed at
the jobsite and shall be computed on the basis of the hours worked
during the day by journeymen so employed.  Any work performed by a
journeyman in excess of eight hours per day or 40 hours per week
shall not be used to calculate the ratio.  The contractor shall
employ apprentices for the number of hours computed as above before
the end of the contract or, in the case of a subcontractor, before
the end of the subcontract.  However, the contractor shall endeavor,
to the greatest extent possible, to employ apprentices during the
same time period that the journeymen in the same craft or trade are
employed at the jobsite.  Where an hourly apprenticeship ratio is not
feasible for a particular craft or trade, the Chief of the Division
of Apprenticeship Standards, upon application of an apprenticeship
program, may order a minimum ratio of not less than one apprentice
for each five journeymen in a craft or trade classification.
   (i) A contractor covered by this section that has agreed to be
covered by an apprenticeship program's standards upon the issuance of
the approval certificate, or that has been previously approved for
an apprenticeship program in the craft or trade, shall employ the
number of apprentices or the ratio of apprentices to journeymen
stipulated in the applicable apprenticeship standards, but in no
event less than the 1-to-5 ratio required by subdivision (g).
   (j) Upon proper showing by a contractor that he or she employs
apprentices in a particular craft or trade in the state on all of his
or her contracts on an annual average of not less than one hour of
apprentice work for every five hours of labor performed by
journeymen, the Chief of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards may
grant a certificate exempting the contractor from the 1-to-5 hourly
ratio, as set forth in this section for that craft or trade.
   (k) An apprenticeship program has the discretion to grant to a
participating contractor or contractor association a certificate,
which shall be subject to the approval of the Administrator of
Apprenticeship, exempting the contractor from the 1-to-5 ratio set
forth in this section when it finds that any one of the following
conditions is met:
   (1) Unemployment for the previous three-month period in the area
exceeds an average of 15 percent.
   (2) The number of apprentices in training in the area exceeds a
ratio of 1 to 5.
   (3) There is a showing that the apprenticeable craft or trade is
replacing at least one-thirtieth of its journeymen annually through
apprenticeship training, either on a statewide basis or on a local
basis.
   (4) Assignment of an apprentice to any work performed under a
public works contract would create a condition that would jeopardize
his or her life or the life, safety, or property of fellow employees
or the public at large, or the specific task to which the apprentice
is to be assigned is of a nature that training cannot be provided by
a journeyman.
   (l) When an exemption is granted pursuant to subdivision (k) to an
organization that represents contractors in a specific trade from
the 1-to-5 ratio on a local or statewide basis, the member
contractors will not be required to submit individual applications
for approval to local joint apprenticeship committees, if they are
already covered by the local apprenticeship standards.
   (m) (1)  A contractor to whom a contract is awarded, who, in
performing any of the work under the contract, employs journeymen or
apprentices in any apprenticeable craft or trade shall contribute to
the California Apprenticeship Council the same amount that the
director determines is the prevailing amount of apprenticeship
training contributions in the area of the public works site.  A
contractor may take as a credit for payments to the council any
amounts paid by the contractor to an approved apprenticeship program
that can supply apprentices to the site of the public works project.
The contractor may add the amount of the contributions in computing
his or her bid for the contract.
   (2) At the conclusion of each fiscal year, the California
Apprenticeship Council shall distribute training contributions
received by the council under this subdivision, less the expenses of
the Division of Apprenticeship Standards for administering this
subdivision, by making grants to approved apprenticeship programs for
the purpose of training apprentices.  The funds shall be distributed
as follows:
   (A) If there is an approved multiemployer apprenticeship program
serving the same craft or trade and geographic area for which the
training contributions were made to the council, a grant to that
program shall be made.
   (B) If there are two or more approved multiemployer apprenticeship
programs serving the same craft or trade and geographic area for
which the training contributions were made to the council, the grant
shall be divided among those programs based on the number of
apprentices registered in each program.
   (C) All training contributions not distributed under subparagraphs
(A) and (B) shall be used to defray the future expenses of
administering this subdivision.
   (3) All training contributions received pursuant to this
subdivision shall be deposited in the Apprenticeship Training
Contribution Fund, which fund is hereby created in the State
Treasury.  Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, all
money in the Apprenticeship Training Contribution Fund is hereby
continuously appropriated for the purpose of carrying out this
subdivision and to pay the expenses of the division in administering
this subdivision.
   (n) The body awarding the contract shall cause to be inserted in
the contract stipulations to effectuate this section.  The
stipulations shall fix the responsibility of compliance with this
section for all apprenticeable occupations with the prime contractor.

   (o) This section does not apply to contracts of general
contractors or to contracts of specialty contractors not bidding for
work through a general or prime contractor when the contracts of
general contractors or those specialty contractors involve less than
thirty thousand dollars ($30,000).
   (p) All decisions of an apprenticeship program under this section
are subject to Section 3081.
  SEC. 2.  Section 1777.7 of the Labor Code is amended to read:
   1777.7.  (a) (1) A contractor or subcontractor that is determined
by the Chief of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards to have
knowingly violated Section 1777.5 shall forfeit as a civil penalty an
amount not exceeding one hundred dollars ($100) for each full
calendar day of noncompliance.  The amount of this penalty may be
reduced by the Chief if the amount of the penalty would be
disproportionate to the severity of the violation.  A contractor or
subcontractor that knowingly commits a second or subsequent violation
of Section 1777.5 within a three-year period, where the
noncompliance results in apprenticeship training not being provided
as required by this chapter, shall forfeit as a civil penalty the sum
of not more than three hundred dollars ($300) for each full calendar
day of noncompliance.  Notwithstanding Section 1727, upon receipt of
a determination that a civil penalty has been imposed by the Chief,
the awarding body shall withhold the amount of the civil penalty from
contract progress payments then due or to become due.
   (2) In lieu of the penalty provided for in this subdivision, the
Chief may, for a first-time violation and with the concurrence of an
apprenticeship program described in subdivision (d), order the
contractor or subcontractor to provide apprentice employment
equivalent to the work hours that would have been provided for
apprentices during the period of noncompliance.
   (b) In the event a contractor or subcontractor is determined by
the Chief to have knowingly committed a serious violation of any
provision of Section 1777.5, the Chief may also deny to the
contractor or subcontractor, and to its responsible officers, the
right to bid on or be awarded or perform work as a subcontractor on
any public works contract for a period of up to one year for the
first violation and for a period of up to three years for a second or
subsequent violation.  Each period of debarment shall run from the
date the determination of noncompliance by the Chief becomes a final
order of the Administrator of Apprenticeship.
   (c) (1) An affected contractor, subcontractor, or responsible
officer may obtain a review of the determination of the Chief
imposing the debarment or civil penalty by transmitting a written
request to the office of the Administrator within 30 days after
service of the determination of debarment or civil penalty.  A copy
of this report shall also be served on the Chief.  If the
Administrator does not receive a timely request for review of the
determination of debarment or civil penalty made by the Chief, the
order shall become the final order of the Administrator.
   (2) Within 20 days of the timely receipt of a request for review,
the Chief shall provide the contractor, subcontractor, or responsible
officer the opportunity to review any evidence the Chief may offer
at the hearing.  The Chief shall also promptly disclose any
nonprivileged documents obtained after the 20-day time limit at a
time set forth for exchange of evidence by the Administrator.
   (3) Within 90 days of the timely receipt of a request for review,
a hearing shall be commenced before the Administrator or an impartial
hearing officer designated by the Administrator and possessing the
qualifications of an administrative law judge pursuant to subdivision
(b) of Section 11502 of the Government Code.  The affected
contractor, subcontractor, or responsible officer shall have the
burden of providing evidence of compliance with Section 1777.5.
   (4) Within 45 days of the conclusion of the hearing, the
Administrator shall issue a written decision affirming, modifying, or
dismissing the determination of debarment or civil penalty.  The
decision shall contain a statement of the factual and legal basis for
the decision and an order.  This decision shall be served on all
parties and the awarding body pursuant to Section 1013 of the Code of
Civil Procedure by first-class mail at the last known address of the
party that the party has filed with the Administrator.  Within 15
days of issuance of the decision, the Administrator may reconsider or
modify the decision to correct an error, except that a clerical
error may be corrected at any time.
   (5) An affected contractor, subcontractor, or responsible officer
who has timely requested review and obtained a decision under
paragraph (4) may obtain review of the decision of the Administrator
by filing a petition for a writ of mandate to the appropriate
superior court pursuant to Section 1094.5 of the Code of Civil
Procedure within 45 days after service of the final decision.  If no
timely petition for a writ of mandate is filed, the decision shall
become the final order of the Administrator.  The decision of the
Administrator shall be affirmed unless the petitioner shows that the
Administrator abused his or her discretion.  If the petitioner claims
that the findings are not supported by the evidence, abuse of
discretion is established if the court determines that the findings
are not supported by substantial evidence in light of the entire
record.
   (6) The Chief may certify a copy of the final order of the
Administrator and file it with the clerk of the superior court in any
county in which the affected contractor or subcontractor has
property or has or had a place of business.  The clerk, immediately
upon the filing, shall enter judgment for the state against the
person assessed in the amount shown on the certified order.  A
judgment entered pursuant to this section shall bear the same rate of
interest and shall have the same effect as other judgments and be
given the same preference allowed by the law on other judgments
rendered for claims for taxes.  The clerk shall not charge for the
service performed by him or her pursuant to this section.  An
awarding body that has withheld funds in response to a determination
by the Chief imposing a penalty under this section shall, upon
receipt of a certified copy of a final order of the Administrator,
promptly transmit the withheld funds, up to the amount of the
certified order, to the Administrator.
   (d) If a subcontractor is found to have violated Section 1777.5,
the prime contractor of the project is not liable for any penalties
under subdivision (a), unless the prime contractor had knowledge of
the subcontractor's failure to comply with the provisions of Section
1777.5 or unless the prime contractor fails to comply with any of the
following requirements:
   (1) The contract executed between the contractor and the
subcontractor or the performance of work on the public works project
shall include a copy of the provisions of Sections 1771, 1775, 1776,
1777.5, 1813, and 1815.
   (2) The contractor shall continually monitor a subcontractor's use
of apprentices required to be employed on the public works project
pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 1777.5, including, but not
limited to, periodic review of the certified payroll of the
subcontractor.
   (3) Upon becoming aware of a failure of the subcontractor to
employ the required number of apprentices, the contractor shall take
corrective action, including, but not limited to, retaining funds due
the subcontractor for work performed on the public works project
until the failure is corrected.
   (4) Prior to making the final payment to the subcontractor for
work performed on the public works project, the contractor shall
obtain a declaration signed under penalty of perjury from the
subcontractor that the subcontractor has employed the required number
of apprentices on the public works project.
   (e) Any funds withheld by the awarding body pursuant to this
section shall be deposited in the General Fund if the awarding body
is a state entity, or in the equivalent fund of an awarding body if
the awarding body is an entity other than the state.
   (f) The Chief shall consider, in setting the amount of a monetary
penalty, in determining whether a violation is serious, and in
determining whether and for how long a party should be debarred for
violating this section, all of the following circumstances:
   (1) Whether the violation was intentional.
   (2) Whether the party has committed other violations of Section
1777.5.
   (3) Whether, upon notice of the violation, the party took steps to
voluntarily remedy the violation.
   (4) Whether, and to what extent, the violation resulted in lost
training opportunities for apprentices.
   (5) Whether, and to what extent, the violation otherwise harmed
apprentices or apprenticeship programs.
   If a party seeks review of a decision by the Chief to impose a
monetary penalty or period of debarment, the Administrator shall
decide de novo the appropriate penalty, by considering the same
factors set forth above.
   (g) The interpretation of Section 1777.5 and this section shall be
in accordance with the regulations of the California Apprenticeship
Council.  The Administrator may adopt regulations to establish
guidelines for the imposition of monetary penalties and periods of
debarment and may designate precedential decisions under Section
11425.60 of the Government Code.
  SEC. 3.  Section 3099 of the Labor Code is amended to read:
   3099.  The Division of Apprenticeship Standards shall do all of
the following:
   (a) On or before July 1, 2001, establish and validate minimum
standards for the competency and training of electricians through a
system of testing and certification.
   (b) On or before March 1, 2000, establish an advisory committee
and panels as necessary to carry out the functions under this
section.  There shall be contractor representation from both joint
apprenticeship programs and unilateral nonunion programs in the
electrical contracting industry.
   (c) On or before July 1, 2001, establish fees necessary to
implement this section.
   (d) On or before July 1, 2001, establish and adopt regulations to
enforce this section.
   (e) There shall be no discrimination for or against any person
based on membership or nonmembership in a union.
   As used in this section, "electricians" include all employees who
engage in the connection of electrical devices for electrical
contractors licensed pursuant to Section 7058 of the Business and
Professions Code, specifically, contractors classified as electrical
contractors in the Contractors' State License Board Rules and
Regulations.  This section does not apply to electrical connections
under 100 volt-amperes.  This section does not apply to persons
performing work to which Section 7042.1 of the Business and
Professions Code is applicable, or to electrical work ordinarily and
customarily performed by stationary engineers.
